EASTER SEALS MIDWEST

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Sensory Exhaustion

I've worded this concept several times and have blogged about it a few, but in a presentation yesterday in TouchPoint's ADAPT (parent training) program I worded this perfectly.

Wherever you are right now I want you to stop for a second and just listen... ... ... ... Did you hear silence? I'm going to guess that you did not. Maybe a car was driving past your house, or maybe there's a conversation going on in an office near yours, or maybe a phone rang near by. Whatever it was I'm sure you heard something.

Perhaps in reading the latter half of the previous paragraph you already had tuned out those other noises. I love in my presentations when I talk about this and the look on people's faces when I prompt them to listen to all the noises that I point out. It seems to me that people who aren't on the spectrum have the ability to tune out all the extra noises in life and when I am speaking my words are the only thing that they hear. That must be nice because for me I hear all the noises without a filter.

I've used this in my presentation for over a year now in that school was difficult for me. Yes, the social aspect was a challenge, but also was the sensory aspect to it. I never had the key words to describe the name of it, but think back to a classroom setting with 20+ students. To say that is a quiet environment would be nothing short of a joke. Okay, so it might not be loud like a busy street corner, or a buzzing sports arena, but it doesn't have to be loud to be, well, loud. What I mean by that is every noise is heard, at least for me, and if there are 20 people in a room, or more, that is a lot of whispers, a lot of breathing, and a lot of potential coughing. Also, there are footsteps in the room and hall, conversations in the hall, and the ever present fear of a fire drill. All in all it isn't a sensory tame environment and when I went to school my days were usually the same; the first two hours went by great with minimal issues and then at about the third hour, sometime fourth which was lunch, I hit a wall.

This wall that I would hit would all but flatten me. Energy? Gone. Headache? Very much so. Knowing what I know now and from experiences I have on occasion I am sure that part of the problem was sensory exhaustion. That's my new keyword for this as I used to say overload but it isn't overload in the truest of senses. The term exhaustion works great because that's how I see it; my body would get to the point of just being tired of all the input.

Another exhausting aspect of this is the amount of focus it takes to listen to what needs to be listened to. I may be hearing everything but if the teacher was speaking I would have to intently focus to be able to hear and process the information all the while hearing each whisper under the breath or crinkle of paper. And in doing all that my mind would just wear itself out.

What can be done about this? I'm not sure and I don't think there is one easy universal answer. The first step is identifying it and I so badly wish now that someone back then would have been aware of this (of course being diagnosed at age 20 doesn't help any of that.) If I would have had a small break somewhere along the way I might have had more in the reserve tanks to forge onward through the sensory clutter. Even now I sometimes need to remove myself from a multiple sound environment to do this. Again, I want to restate that it doesn't have to be a single loud noise to do this as multiple noises at once are just as harsh to my system.

So that's what my thoughts are on this now. I think back to my issues in school and I think if someone had told me what my issues with in regards to this I probably would have denied this or stated a flat, "I don't know." That being said if you are a teacher with a student that might be having an issue like this I don't think you can expect the student to be able to say that the environment is too loud for them. Even now advocating for myself in a situation like that is difficult for me and that's why I do what I do. Sometimes we need help and sometimes the only way to get the help is if there is understanding. As I began this post, chances are you didn't hear any of the noises in your environment until prompted to listen. Moving forward I'd like you to keep that in your mind and maybe once a day take a minutes and listen to the sounds of life. Each time I'm sure you'll be amazed at what you hear, but each time just remember that, for a person on the spectrum, this might be the soundtrack that is always playing without an option to turn it down.

6 comments:

I am a now a teacher and was an education assistant and I have been working with children on the Spectrum for 5 years now and I am so very happy I have found your blog. You have such a great way of explaining things. Thank you and I look forward to reading new entries and working at reading all your past posts and your books because I know there is a wealth of knowledge in here.

In kindergarten I had a teacher who tried to teach her pupils to 'truly listen'. So she told us to close our eyes and tell her what we heard.Things that others said: "The person next to me, a foot tapping, breathing..."What I said: "Everything he just said, all the other people's breathing too, footsteps outside, leaves in the wind outside (we had thin windows), the airconditioning, myself..."The whole class stared at me with their mouths open. Then someone said: "There's no way you can hear all that, you're lying." I promised that I did in fact hear all that. I got some looks of disbelieve and the teacher quickly changed subject.

I found I was on the Asperger Spectrum (40/50) at the age of 65, I am now 68. Finding this out explained "me" to myself finally! This blog opened my eyes to the problems I had in school and still grapple with today. Along with the sound/noise problem (I use earplugs at night to sleep), I also seem to have a lot of stress/panic with sight (?). When I put on a pair of dark glasses I feel a REAL release of tension throughout my body. I really hope you will continue to get this syndrome information to the teachers and schools so it can help the children that need it. Thank you for what you are doing.

It is so hard to understand how a child with autism feels/hears/smells as they cannot verbalise it. When I ask my son how his day was he always says "I had a great day mom" but I think he says that because it is great at this moment because now I am home and don't have to deal with the noise. Now that he is 8 he is able to take himself away from the overload/exhaustion but when he was younger it was very difficult for him to deal with this. Coupled with a teacher whose sole aim was to make him "normal" by the end of the year-we had a constant battle. Jack now sleeps in a tent with all his "friends" and when he needs peace and quiet he zips the door up and hides from the world!

Your words help a parent understand their child! Keep up your blog it is fantastic!

In this situation, I tried my best to zone in on the people I should be listening to. I will give you an example from OT school.

Commonly we had a lot of small group discussions in my classes, so although there were noises everywhere (from other groups and other little noises), I completely focused in on my group mates the best I can. That way, I can respond when opportunities present themselves.

Who I Am

Hello, my name is Aaron Likens and thanks for visiting my blog. I am the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest and also the author of the book "Finding Kansas. My passion in life is to raise the awareness and understanding of the autism spectrum through this blog as well as the many presentations I give. For myself, as much as it is a passion, it is personal because I was given the diagnosis of Asperger's when I was 20. Back then there wasn't much info and I fell into a pit of despair. I stayed there for 15 months but then I eventually discovered myself through writing and now here I am and here you are on my blog. There are well over 1,000 posts on this blog as I started blogging in March of 2010. So whether you're reading today's blog, or are skimming through stories of the past, I hope that your time here gives you a better glimps of what living life on the autism spectrum, or, "other side of the wall" is like. If you do like what you see please follow me on Facebook as that's where I share when I've written a new blog as well as announcing where I will be presenting. Please note that the opinions expressed on this blog are mine and may not be reflective of Easter Seals Midwest.

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Finding Kansas Revisited

To mark 10 years since I started writing my book I did a blog series with my thoughts from today on what I wrote then. This was the first time I ever read anything I had ever written.

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I ran a sunglasses experiment to judge why eye contact is so difficult. I wore them for about 15 days, then I switched back to my normal glasses to see how big of a difference there was. By clicking my picture you can be taken to the page that has the complete experiement all in one place.

About Me

I am the Autism Ambassador for Easter Seals Midwest and also the author of Finding Kansas: Living and Decoding Asperger's Syndrome. My passion in life is raising awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders and to help the world understand how the mind of a person on the spectrum works. I can do this because I am on the spectrum (Asperger's).
I was diagnosed at the age of 20 and after the diagnosis a lot of my quirks made sense. I didn't understand who I was though and went into a deep depression. Through this depression though I became very keen on my inner self and I started to write. I wrote and I wrote and before I knew it I wrote a book.
5 years later I am, among other things, giving presentations to police, teachers, and parents and am now starting my quest on making the best blog possible!
The views on this blog are mine and may not be reflective of Easter Seals Midwest.
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